GEOLOGIC DIVISION CONTINUING PROJECT WORK PLAN - FL 2001
Background Narratives - Potential Impacts and Major Products
To undertake this project successfully and to assure that this project builds on existing research programs, we will work closely with the following academic institutes: Tulane (detailed geo-framework mapping of the river), UNO (deltaic processes) and USF (remote sensing capabilities). For each of these centers we hope to establish a mutually beneficial COOP program.
Knowledge gained from this process-oriented project of the fate of sediment-hosted pollutants in the lower Mississippi River system will enhance our understanding of the collective suite of processes (geologic framework, hydrology, biology) responsible for the flux of contaminants into the Gulf of Mexico. As this river system traverses one of the most industrialized corridors in the world, the potential contaminant input (past and present) to the Gulf of Mexico through either the Atchafalaya or Mississippi River systems is significant. Recent sediment geochronologies should be able to provide a reconstruction of historic contaminant inventories for the lower Mississippi River system over the last ~ 100 years. Such a study will provide an integrated and comprehensive model that can then also be applied to other river/ocean mixing systems. This framework model will also offer predictive capabilities that will be able to assess ecosystem impacts and stressors.
The USGS recently concluded a long-term study of the upper Mississippi River (Bob Meade and others) and this project will extend those findings into the lower reaches of the river as well as the Gulf of Mexico shelf region to provide a comprehensive scientific overview of the Mississippi River system. This project will also tie directly into the newly launched USGS Gulf of Mexico Initiative and will be able to provide key linkages to other research agencies and academia that have an interest in Gulf of Mexico estuaries. A multi-year NSF-funded effort is in the works to study all aspects of carbon transport in river-ocean mixing zones. The lower Mississippi River has been chosen to be a first study site (under the direction of Dr. Brent McKee (Tulane Univ.) and others. By getting involved with this large research consortium at this early developmental stage, we would be able to provide scientific input, expertise and long term scientific consistency to a new flagship research program. Results will be disseminated in the form of peer-reviewed scientific journal articles, open file reports, web pages and data integration/synthesis (i.e., knowledge bank).
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